Latest News

April
5 2006: Today doctors at Dili National Hospital
examined Maria and she will also been examined by a pediatrician
tonight. They will then provide more clinical information about
Maria?s condition to the hospital in Sydney. Following this we
will be waiting for the hospital in Sydney to confirm that they
will undertake the operation in order for the travel visas to
be granted.

We continue to work to process passports for Maria and Lorencia.
Like many Timorese, Lorencia does not have a birth certificate.
This afternoon the Bairo Pite Clinic councilor has been assisting
the family in this process.

Maria's family are still overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity
shown. Once again, the staff at the Bairo Pite Clinic join them
in sending our sincerest thanks to those who are helping.

Best wishes,
Virginia Dawson

April 4 2006:
Firstly we wish to thank everyone for the generous responses which
we have received for Maria's Operation after the newspaper articles
by Lindsay Murdoch. We are inspired by the generosity everyone
has expressed and excited about the opportunity to make this happen!

I have just been with Maria and she is fairly stable. She was
coughing last night but was able to sleep well. Her parents are
overwhelmed by the response to the articles! They are a little
nervous about traveling to a land so far away and so different
from East Timor but enormously grateful that their baby has been
given this chance.

ROMAC have offered to assist us to organize the operation. They
run an extensive program helping children from developing countries
to gain surgery in Australia and are very experienced in this
area. The Sydney Children?s Hospital have offered to provide the
operation and a surgeon has offered to donate his services. On
the ground, we are currently in the process of attempting to gain
passports and visas for Maria and her mother and anticipate this
may take a week.

We wish to thank everyone who has donated money towards the operation.
Donations received above the costs of Maria's operation will be
used to create a fund for other patients from East Timor who require
lifesaving operations overseas. Unfortunately this is not an isolated
incident and we have a list of patients requiring surgery.

On this note, we have received offers from other hospitals and
surgeons to perform Maria?s operation. We are extremely grateful
for these offers and would love to make use of them! As I said
there are many more patients waiting for lifesaving operations.
If your hospital has the ability to donate similar operations
please contact us!

I would also like to thank those who have offered rooms in their
houses for Maria and her family while they are in Australia and
also for those who have given their time to lobby hospitals. We
are truly touched by such generosity.

We will endeavor to keep everyone informed about Maria and hopefully
will be able to update our website in the next few days.

Once again we would like to give a sincere thank you to you all
from the Bairo Pite Clinic, Maria and her family.
Best wishes,
Virginia Dawson.